Over the last 15 years or so clarinetist-composer Arun Ghosh has created a body of recorded work that has broached important socio-cultural subjects, notably on But Where Are You Really From?, and Seclused In Light is also an outlet for deeply personal expression as well as musical ambition. To a great extent, this double album is Ghosh’s lockdown record and the large amount of music reflects a certain gravitas and desire to make a statement on the nature of mortality and mourning as well as resilience in the faces of loss [Ghosh’s father died as Covid peaked].

The fact that Ghosh is in the role of multi-instrumentalist as well as composer has given much of the material the kind of distilled clarity that betrays his allegiance to pop and folk and improvisation. The result is a series of strong melodies set to slow tempos that do not overly drag or stall. The steady momentum of ‘Surrender To The Sea’ or the affecting pulsation of ‘NineNight’ both show Ghosh’s skill in ratcheting up tension while exercising a certain constraint, and the latter’s wavering meter, based on a nine-beat cycle that reflects the musical riches of his south Indian heritage, is spellbinding. As much as he is flexing his producer-editor as well as composer-player muscles here, the input of the likes of drummer Myke Wilson, tabla player Aref Durvesh and saxophonists Idris Rahman and Chris Williams, is decisive. A convincing piece of studio work, Seclused In Light could well be an enthralling proposition played live.